Full Moon Hike by Julie Steimle (ebook e reader TXT) 📕

“Hey! Eve!”

Will jogged over to me, taking hold of my arm.

“Why did you run off like that? What happened? Did you—?” Will’s eyes fixed on the strange hairy boy. “Oh, crap. What have you unearthed now?”

“I didn’t unearth him,” I snapped back. “I smelled blood and then thought I heard gunfire.”

“I thought I heard some too,” Will murmured still staring at the boy as he backed slightly away from him.

The boy examined us, looking from Will who was about as ordinary as a blond Californian could get, to me who was far from ordinary. He opened his mouth, snuck a glance over his shoulder, and ducked down. The boy whispered to me. “Look. I don’t know who or what you are, and you don’t know me. But all I’m asking is a favor. Please let me hide here.”

“What?” Will just stared at him.

Practically falling on his knees, the boy winced. “My name is Howard Richard Deacon the third. Those hunters are after me. If you have any sympathy at all, please hide me.”

I looked to Will and then Travis who had just walked up, staring at our hairy newcomer.

Lifting my eyes beyond the boy through the darkness, I could see the hunters coming from far off. I could tell they were trying to make our figures out from our silhouettes in the firelight. “Ok…”

“What?” Will and Travis both stared at me.

I returned the look with a shake of my head. “Come on. This is an animal reserve, and they shouldn’t be shooting at anything here. Especially people.”

They raised their eyebrows at me.

“Come on, Travis,” I said with a sharp look to my brothers.  You’re the one who said that nothing in this mountain is scarier than I am. If he tries anything, I’ll tear him apart.”

“But where are we going to hide him?” Will asked still gaping at me as if I wanted to feed them all to that boy.

I hurried over to my tent, opening it up. Nearby, Dawn walked into the camp with an armload of pinecones, dumping them near the fire. She looked up at Will and Travis and then saw the hairy boy named Howard and opened her mouth to scream. In a second I was on her, covering her mouth before she could let one out.

“Sorry, Dawn. But don’t scream. He’ll be hiding in our tent. Now bite your lip or something because there are hunters coming.” I then let go.

She pulled back and stared at me as I then beckoned to the boy as I would a dog.

He rolled his eyes at me, but transformed in front of our eyes into a wolf, crouching down then running straight into our tent as I had directed. I zipped it up quickly then nodded to my brothers. “If those hunters enter the camp, play stupid.”

They exchanged exasperated looks while I immediately went back to setting out our dinner, retracting my wings.

Dawn hurried right next to me, grabbing my arm. “What was that?”

Shrugging, I glanced to Will. “More polite to say ‘who was that’?”

She pinched me.

“OW!” I cast a glare at her. “Alright! I don’t know, ok? But he’s not obeying his imps, and they have been shouting really loud. That gives me reason enough to trust him.”

“How?” Travis asked, looking like he wanted to pinch me also. Both he and Will rounded on me. I backed away and picked up the open package of hotdogs.

I held it between them. “Look. I just do. Take a hotdog.”

They made faces at me, but they each took a hotdog out of the bag.

Dawn grabbed hers and bopped me on the nose with it. “I don’t like this. He’s not sleeping in our tent, Eve.”

With a roll of my eyes, I knocked her hand away. “Of course not. Mom would not approve of strange boys sleeping in our tent.”

“I don’t even mean it like that, but since you mentioned it,” Dawn followed me as I went to the buns, took one, and slathered it with ketchup and relish before setting it on the log with a napkin, “he is a stranger. What is he doing alone in the woods anyway?”

Glancing back at the tent, I was about to ask that myself, but my eyes caught on movement across the campground in the shadows of the far trees. The hunters were coming our way. I was not wearing my sunglasses so they probably could see my eyes, and they were probably red.

“Oh, dear.” I backed off and went over to Will, whispering. “I’m going to go invisible. If they ask where I went, say I’m using the bushes.”

He stared at her. “But Eve we need you to protect us.”

“I have a feeling,” I said as I peered up through the fire, “that you are safer without me around. That kid’s some kind of monster, and if they’re trying to shoot him, they’ll start shooting at all of us if they see my eyes glow in the dark.”

“But what if they try something anyway when you’re gone?” he asked.

“I’ll still be here,” I said and winked.

He closed his eyes, remembering that I said I’d go invisible. It was still something that made him nervous. Personally I didn’t know how the other things I was didn’t make him more uneasy. Sharp teeth and wings would have been enough for me.

So I walked into the dark, just far enough so that I could take out my wings without being seen and float up to go immaterial again, unseen and unfelt. I flapped over their heads so that I was flying above the path, watching the hunters enter the clearing. Their imps stared at me when they came out of the trees and onto the hiking trail, so I gestured for them to get out of the way. Flapping angrily, the imps fluttered off without much retort. In my immaterial state, I had learned that I could boss the imps around a bit.

“Hey, kids,” one of the men called to them. “Did you see a boy come this way? Running around shirtless.”

I shuddered. They knew they were shooting at a boy?

Will squinted in the darkness at them. “Who wants to know?”

“A wise guy, huh?” One of them cocked his gun.

I could see Travis draw himself up with a strength-taking breath for bravery. “Those aren’t allowed on the reserve.”

“Are you the one who tattled?” That one pointed his rifle at Travis.

“It was that weird girl. The one with the black hair and strange eyes,” the first one said.

Strange eyes, huh? They already knew. That was good enough for me. There was no need to hide anymore.

I fluttered down into the trees beyond the path and materialized, then took a step back onto the path. “This is an animal reserve.”

They jumped. It was stupid of me actually. One of them dropped his gun and it went off. Luckily the shot went up, not hitting any one of us.

“Where’d you pop in from?” The leader of the group lifted his rifle.

I didn’t even give him a look, crossing back to my sister’s side and picked up my hotdog again, putting it on one of the prepared coat hangers. “I was right there. Are you blind?”

Despite the fact that three men were standing there with rifles nearly pointed at us, both Will and Travis busted up. Dawn just stared, her blue eyes wide on the hunters with horror.

One of them cocked his rifle. That silenced both my brothers.

“You cost us three rifles,” he said with a look at me, taking aim.

“And you are breaking the law,” I replied. I shoved my hotdog stick into my sister’s hand and stomped right up to him. “Not only are you on a wildlife reserve with guns, but you are also threatening us, which constitutes as assault with a deadly weapon.”

“People vanish on mountains every day,” the man said with a chuckle, repeating his imp’s words with the same menace.

I didn’t back down. “Maybe, but it is stupid to make four teenagers vanish on a mountain with guns, especially right after eye witnesses already saw you with weapons trying to sneak in. And our folks know we’re competent hikers. If we’re not back on time, they’d send not just one ranger, but the entire mountain full. You’d be in San Quentin as early as tomorrow evening.”

He lifted his chin and huffed. However, he did pull back his gun. “You’re too mouthy, kid. If I were you, I’d watch yourself when you go down the mountain. You might just trip.”

“Not likely,” I said and grinned with my mouth closed. Open would have given me away as a monster. Then they would be trying to stab wooden stakes into my chest.

I remained there, waiting for the three men to leave. At first it was like a standoff. However, as they peered at us, it became quite clear to them they were not going to find their quarry just standing around and harassing four teenagers. One by one, they left the camp-ground trailing after the other towards the canyon side of the mountain, still searching for the hairy boy they had shot.

When they were far out of the campground and at least out of normal human sight, I walked back to Dawn and took my hotdog stick from her hand, whispering to the others. “Don’t say anything weird. They haven’t gone yet. They’re still watching us.”

“How long are they going to watch us?” Dawn asked, her body going rigid.

I just shrugged. “I dunno. Until they give up?”

“That may take all night,” Will hissed back, bending down low.

Closing one eye to peer into the darkness, biting my lip as I thought, I said, “Nah. They’ll fall asleep.”

“But what about Harry in my tent?” Dawn snapped, pinching my arm again.

“OW!” I pulled back from her reach. “I’ll take care of it. Jeeze.”

Handing Travis my hotdog stick to hold over the fire, I zipped open the two-man tent and stuck my head in. The hairy boy was still a wolf, crouching back with his tail in between his legs, though I also noticed the wolf was wearing jean shorts. Giving him a smile, I climbed in and zipped the tent up. “Hi.”

I heard one of my brothers say in a low voice, “I don’t think Mom would approve of her being alone in a tent with a boy. Should we go in there with her?”

The other of them must have shrugged because I didn’t hear him say anything more than, “Would we all fit?”

I whispered to the wolf in the tent, “Could you please put on a more human-like face or something? I kinda’ find it weird talking to a dog.”

The wolf arched his back and shook out himself like he were covered in water. The hair shrank some from his face, but he was still mostly wolf-like. He then lifted his face towards me with those combination human and wolf eyes, nearly begging. “Please don’t send me out. I promise I won’t bite anybody. Those men will kill me for sure.”

Sitting back on my rear then crossing my legs, I cocked my head to look at him. “Are you what I think you are?”

He pressed his lips together and peered at me also. “What about you? You look like a vampire, but you sure don’t act like one exactly.”

I blinked at him. “You know vampires?”

First he cringed and then he shook his head. “No. I mean, I have met a few… but actually, I just have this friend whose parents are vampires.”

That made me stare. “Vampires can’t have kids. Well, not normally anyway.”

“His parents became vampires after he was born,” he said.

“Oh.” I nodded. “I see. Well, my birth father is a vampire, but my mother isn’t. She’s an imp. In fact, I shouldn’t even exist. I’m sort of a demon.”

He retreated from me.

“But that doesn’t explain what you are,” I said, peering him over. “Not that I can’t guess, but I’ve never really believed in werewolves.”

Huffing some, his body became more human, and he